


desert friend

by discordiansamba



Series: desert born [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 12:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20742011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discordiansamba/pseuds/discordiansamba
Summary: Sometimes, your first choice isn't always your best choice.(or, a Pidge POV for the desert born verse)





	desert friend

**Author's Note:**

> Long time, no update! Not since April! Thought it was about time to drop in for some new content for this verse, so have a Pidge POV. Aside from the first part, which is pre-canon, most of this chapter takes place in between the first episode and Tears of the Balmera. Don't know when I'll be back with more content for this verse, but as always, keep an eye out, because you just never know!
> 
> If you're new to this series, you probably wanted to read either desert born or desert raised first before reading this.

Katie squirmed in her seat, peering out the window, watching as the city streets slowly began to give way to desert. Her dad hadn't said much before loading them in the car, just that they were going to meet the son of an old coworker of his from the Garrison, a kid close to Matt's age whose name was Keith. He'd called it a playdate, and had laughed when she'd huffed and said that she was too old for those.

He hadn't said _anything _about him living in the _desert_.

"Dad?" Matt asked, shifting in his seat a little. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Like I said before, there's someone I want you to meet." Sam said.

"Yeah, but in the desert?" Matt asked.

Sam just chuckled, glancing back towards them. "Fair enough. Keith is a little... _different_."

"Different?" Katie asked. "Different how?"

"Well, for starters, his mom's not from around here." Sam told them, momentarily taking one hand off the wheel to point up towards the sky. "She's from up there."

Katie blinked, exchanging a glance with her brother. What did he mean, from _up there_? That was the sky. People didn't come from the _sky_.

Unless... what if he didn't mean the sky? What if he meant what was past it?

What if he meant _space_?

"Dad," Matt began slowly, clearly thinking the same thing she was, "-are you telling me Keith's an alien?"

"I guess you could say that." Sam said- and she swore she could see him smiling, even from the back seat. "He was born here, though, and his father's a human, so he's only half-alien."

Katie just stared at her father, caught between wondering if he was just teasing them, or if he was being serious. She really hoped he was being serious- having an alien for a best friend would only be like, the coolest thing ever!

Especially given that her attempts at making friends at school... well, they hadn't been going too well. But maybe this _Keith _would be different. From the sound of it, he didn't have very many friends either. That was the whole reason her dad was bringing them out here.

"Now, before we get too excited," Sam's voice cut in, "-I just want you to know that Keith can be kind of sensitive about his looks."

"Why?" Katie asked. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing's wrong with him." Sam said, giving her a warning look. "He just takes more after his mother, that's all. He's purple, for one thing."

_Purple_. She tried to picture just what this _Keith _might look like, but it wasn't like she had a lot of information. A half-human alien kid around Matt's age who was purple left a lot to the imagination. She wondered if he had any extra limbs or eyes, or maybe a tail. Did he have horns? Wings? Did he have any special powers?

By the time they actually pulled up to the shack, her head was swimming with possibilities. Some were more... _inventive _than others, and when she got to know Keith better, they'd both had a good laugh about them. Some of them had been pretty out there, so imagine her surprise when she finally got to space herself and found out that there were aliens just like she had envisioned- and more.

But that was jumping way ahead of the story. She hadn't even met Keith yet.

"We're here." Sam said, bringing the car to a stop.

Peering out the window, Katie's brows knit together. "Is this it?"

All she could see was a rundown looking shack. Sure, she could see someone standing on the porch, but they were hardly an alien. She even knew who he was, though she'd only ever seen him in pictures or on the TV. He was Takashi Shirogane, a budding talent from the Galaxy Garrison, where her father worked. He was a pilot or something, if she remembered correctly- and she also remembered that he was way too young to have a kid around Matt's age, so he couldn't be the coworker her dad had mentioned. Besides, there was nothing _former _about him. She'd just seen him on TV last week, doing an interview.

"This is it." Sam told her. "Come on, let's go say hello."

Leaving no room for argument, her dad got out of the car, shutting the door behind him. She exchanged a glance with Matt, before her brother just shrugged his shoulders and got out too. She lingered in the car for a few seconds longer, before she huffed, unbuckling her seatbelt and hoping out, slightly less excited than she had been just earlier.

Squinting, she looked in the direction of the shack- and the man standing on the porch. Now that she looked closer, she noticed there was someone standing behind him, almost hiding behind his legs. Every so often, she caught a glimpse of them, a head of black hair popping out. Getting a little closer, she realized that he was purple, just like her dad had said he was.

Matt noticed it too, his eyes going wide. "Whoa. You _are _purple."

The kid- _Keith_, probably- flinched, ducking further behind Shiro's leg. A second later, he peeked his head back out, watching them both through narrowed eyes. At least, she _thought _he was watching them- his eyes were weird, like they were all pupil or no pupil- or maybe all the colors just matched, so it only _looked _that way.

Huffing, she wished he would just come out and stop hiding. They had come all this way just to meet him, and she could barely _see _him past Mister Shirogane's legs. How was she supposed to be friends with someone who kept hiding? Not at all satisfied with that, she decided to take the proactive route, stomping up the steps and coming around from behind.

"Hello!"

Keith flinched again- and jumped- actually _jumped_\- back at the sound of her voice. But now she had a much better look at him, and for that matter, so did Matt.

"That's so cool!" Her brother exclaimed, rushing to get a little closer, eager to meet Keith for himself.

Katie, for one, had to agree. He didn't have any wings, or horns, or even a tail- but there was no way this kid was human. It wasn't just his purple skin or his weird eyes- his ears were all pointy, and he had claws instead of just plain old fingernails. She wondered if the stuff on his face were markings, or maybe just tattoos- she'd seen a man at the supermarket with tattoos on his face the other day.

Either way, while maybe not as fantastical as some of the creatures she had envisioned, he was still definitely cool, she'd thought.

It was only later, once she had both gotten to know Keith better and had grown up a little, that she realized that he wasn't cool at all- in fact, he was just a huge _nerd_. Not that that was a _bad _thing- she was a nerd too, after all- and so was the rest of her family, for that matter. But the older she got, the less she started thinking of him as her cool alien friend- and more as just her friend who also happened to be purple. It was hard to spend time around Keith, and _not _see the human in him.

Even when they both got up into space, that didn't ring any less true.

Even after she met the Galra for herself.

* * *

"Hey, you okay?"

Keith didn't even look at her. "I'm fine."

Exchanging a glance with Shiro, Pidge couldn't shake the feeling that he _wasn't _fine. Sure, Keith wasn't exactly known for being a chatterbox, but he'd been awfully quiet ever since they'd gotten that transmission from Sendak. He'd barely even voiced an opinion during the ensuing argument about what to do, other than that he was in favor of staying.

In light of that, it wasn't hard to guess what was on his mind.

Biting her lip, Pidge tightened her grip on the green lion's controls. Maybe this wasn't the best time to talk about it, but she didn't feel comfortable just letting the issue sit. It was bad enough that Allura treated Keith like he was dangerous, he didn't need an actual Galra soldier to actively reinforce that belief.

Not that Sendak had actually _said _anything to Keith. She wasn't even sure if he'd noticed him. All he'd done was deliver his message, which was honestly more of a threat than anything else. Nothing like being told you'd get blown to bits if you didn't hand over a bunch of mechanical space lions to really ruin a girl's day.

"Keith-"

"I'm fine, Pidge." Keith cut her off, his expression hard. "Let's just focus on the mission."

Glancing back at Shiro, he just sighed, shaking his head. No one understood the complex feelings Keith had towards his mother's people better than him, so she should just trust his judgement. He was probably better suited to talking Keith through it than she was.

But she still wanted to do _something _for him. She just wasn't sure what, if anything, she _could _do. All she knew was that she didn't like it. He shouldn't have to feel this way.

She'd meant what she'd said to Allura. Keith was just as human as the rest of them. He'd been born and raised on Earth, had grown up around them.

But he was also Galra.

She didn't pretend to know all of how Keith felt. She knew he idolized his mother, the rebel freedom fighter who had infiltrated the Galra Empire from within. She also knew he loathed the Empire, possibly more than either she or Shiro did- though perhaps less than Allura, given, well... everything that had happened to her.

She just wasn't totally sure how those two warring viewpoints translated into his feelings about _himself_. Especially now that the Galra Empire was no longer this distant menace, but rather, this totally real concrete thing that would probably kill them all if they didn't succeed in stealing the red lion back from them.

_Keith's _lion.

Honestly, given the way Allura had been acting, she was kind of surprised that she'd come around. Shiro must have spoken to her while they were gone. She just hoped that whatever he'd told her stuck with her, because the last thing Keith needed was to deal with that kind of misplaced hatred. She'd lost things to the Galra Empire too, but that was hardly _Keith's _fault. He had nothing to do with it.

Sure, she'd been shocked when she'd found out that the aliens that had taken her dad and Matt were Galra, the same as Keith's mom. But more than anything else, she was worried about Keith disappearing too. If she hadn't reached out her hand to stop him back then, in the kitchen, she got the feeling she might have never seen him again.

She'd already lost one brother. She refused to lose another.

At least they had Shiro back. Maybe that meant there was hope for her family yet.

_Their _family.

* * *

"I'm sorry they weren't there."

Wiping away her tears with her sleeve, Pidge looked up towards Keith. Normally she would have balked at the idea of someone finding her crying, but Keith was an exception. He was awkwardly lingering in front of the med bay doors, eying the healing pods warily as if he expected them to open up any second. He'd made himself scarce during the entire process of examining the freed prisoners and putting them in the pods- probably for the same reason he always made sure that he fell within Allura's line of sight.

She didn't like it. He shouldn't have to be so sensitive about what he was. He couldn't help the fact that he was Galra, any more than she could help the fact that she was short.

"You can come in." Pidge told him. "Coran says the pods won't open for awhile."

Keith looked unconvinced, but he still made his way inside, taking a seat next to her. She scooted over so that she was closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't push her away, and even relaxed somewhat at the contact.

"Pidge-"

"Did seeing Sendak bother you?" Pidge cut him off.

Keith blinked, too stunned by the question to react with anything but surprise. "I-"

"Don't lie to me." Pidge said. "Please."

Keith sighed, staring down at his feet. "It just... it brought a lot of things home, I guess. Stuff I'm not sure I was really ready to deal with just yet."

"So he did bother you." Pidge concluded.

"Yeah." Keith admitted. "He did."

Pidge didn't say anything to that. She realized she didn't know _what _to say, much as she had been the one to bring the topic up. She wanted to say something comforting, something that would put him at ease- but as the younger sister, she was usually the one _being _comforted, not the other way around. She had no idea what to do in a situation like this.

Maybe she really was better off letting Shiro handle it.

"Do you think they know something about your family?" Keith asked, abruptly changing the topic before Pidge had the chance to formulate a response.

He'd definitely done it on purpose.

"Maybe." Pidge said, falling for the bait anyways. "They seemed to recognize Shiro, at least. Called him _Champion_."

"Champion?" Keith frowned. "Champion of what?"

"I don't know." Pidge shook her head. "I'm not sure Shiro knows either."

"Well... maybe they do." Keith said, looking at the pod directly across from them. "Then maybe we can make Voltron's second mission rescuing your family."

"_Our _family." Pidge corrected him. "Dad and Matt are your family too, Keith."

Keith opened his mouth to say something to that, but quickly shut it. "Right. Of course they are."

"I mean it, Keith." Pidge said, pushing herself off his shoulder so that she could look him in the eyes. He'd spent nearly half a year living at her house, but it was still so weird seeing him with actual pupils. Maybe it was because he'd spent the half year after that living back out in the desert again. "You're still family."

Sensing that she'd seen right through him, Keith looked away. "Sorry. I don't mean to doubt them. It's just-"

"-hard?" Pidge finished.

"I know none of this is my fault, but I can't help but blame myself for it." Keith admitted. "Maybe if I had told the Garrison about the Galra, they wouldn't have risked sending a mission out that far."

Pidge narrowed her eyes. "If you'd told the Garrison about the Galra, you'd probably just end up strapped to a table somewhere. I'm not about to let that happen either."

Keith gave her a weak smile. "Thanks."

They sat in companionable silence for some time before Keith broke it. "So... why were you crying?"

"Frustration, mostly." Pidge said. "I really thought we'd find them there."

"I hoped you would, too." Keith said, somewhat awkwardly putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry they weren't."

In another situation, she might have teased him about trying to emulate Shiro, but right now she just took comfort in it. It was something she also direly needed. She settled back against his shoulder, feeling her eyelids start to grow tired. Come to think of it, she'd basically been awake since yesterday morning- she hadn't slept at all the night they had rescued Shiro from the Garrison. For that matter, neither had Keith.

"Tired?" Keith asked.

"_Exhausted_." Pidge said. "What about you?"

Keith just shrugged. "One of the perks of being half-alien means I don't need to sleep as much."

"You sure?" Pidge asked. "Because I distinctly remember you taking a bunch of cat naps when you were younger."

Keith flushed, his cheeks turning a deep shade of violet. "I've grown out of that."

"So you don't deny it." Pidge teased.

"Shut up." Keith grumbled, before unceremoniously scooping her up. "Come on. I'm taking you to bed."

Pidge squeaked, flailing ineffectively in his arms. "Keith! Put me down! You know I can walk!"

"Yeah, but if I let you have a choice in the matter, there's no way you'll actually go to bed." Keith pointed out, glancing down at her. "You'll just fall asleep here and wake up tomorrow with a serious crick in your neck and no clue how you got it."

Pidge grumbled, folding her arms in front of her chest. He had her there. Spending the night here had totally been her plan. She just didn't feel comfortable leaving when the answers she sought might be _so close_. But she guessed their recovery did take priority- and in any case, she'd been waiting nearly half a year. She could wait another day or two.

You know. Hypothetically.

"Fine." Pidge huffed. It was pretty rare that Keith enacted his Older Sibling Rights, but she knew from experience that when he did, there was no arguing with him. He was capable of being just as stubborn as she was. "But only because I was planning on going back to my room anyways."

Keith just snorted, the edges of his lips turning upwards. "Sure you were."

At least everyone else was already asleep at this hour, so there was no one to see Keith carry her through the halls of the Castle. Upon making it to the room she'd been assigned by Coran, Keith essentially just dumped her in her bed.

"Geez, you really know how to treat a lady." Pidge grumbled, rubbing her butt as she sat up.

"Wasn't aware there were any around here." Keith teased.

"_Nice_." Pidge said, only pretending to glare at him.

"Shut up and go to bed, Pidge." Keith told her. "I mean it. Actually sleep."

"Only if you promise to get some rest too." Pidge said.

Keith squinted at her. "Fine. But if I find out that you snuck back out-"

"I won't, I swear." Pidge said, holding up her hands. "We can pinky swear on it if you like."

Keith might have rolled his eyes, but she could see the faint way he smiled. "Ugh, I can't believe Shiro told you that story."

"It's cute." Pidge teased, before letting out a loud yawn. "You know what? You might be right. Sleeping sounds pretty good right about now."

Keith just smiled, shaking his head. "Goodnight, Pidge."

"Night, Keith."

* * *

"I'm going after dad and Matt."

For a long moment, Keith just stared at her, unable to formulate a response. Then finally, he narrowed his eyes. "Pidge, you can't."

Pidge narrowed her eyes right back, tightening the grip on her bag. That wasn't the response she had been expecting. "What do you mean,_ I can't_? I thought you of all people would understand."

Keith visibly twitched. "I don't know if you've forgotten, but we need five paladins to form Voltron. If you leave, you take the only shot this universe has at freedom with it."

Pidge opened her mouth to say something to that, only to snap it shut. Part of her knew that he had a point, but the larger part was seething at the fact that he was actually trying to stand in her way. Didn't he care about her dad and Matt? Or was getting Shiro back all that had actually mattered to him?

The whole reason she had called him out here to talk in private was because she thought he'd understand. Of course, she planned to tell Allura and everyone else a bit later, but she'd wanted to tell Keith first. She knew that her announcement would make them angry at her, so at the very least, she'd been hoping to have Keith in her corner.

So she just couldn't understand why he was trying to _stop _her.

"Allura can find someone else to fly the green lion." Pidge said firmly. "But dad and Matt only have me."

"That's not how the lions work." Keith said, just as firmly. "She could scour the entire universe, and not be able to find a replacement for you. You _are _the green paladin."

"How can you be so sure?" Pidge snapped, letting her anger get the better of her. "For all we know, _she _might be able to fly the green lion if she tried."

"She can't." Keith insisted. "We need you, Pidge."

Gritting her teeth, Pidge glowered at him. "So does my family!"

"I thought _I _was your family!" Keith snapped, baring his fangs with a snarl. "What happened to that!?"

Pidge flinched, her breath momentarily hitching in her throat. In all the time she'd known him, she'd never seen Keith _angry _before, but now he was furious.

Furious at _her_.

Seeming to realize he'd lost his temper, Keith drew in a shaky breath, almost seeming to retreat back into himself. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Snapping back to her own senses, Pidge took a breath. She wasn't scared- just... surprised, that was all. The reverse of seeing Keith as being so human was that sometimes she forgot that he was in fact, half-alien and acted like it at times.

"You didn't scare me." Pidge told him honestly. "And I'm the one who should apologize. You're right. You're my family too, Keith."

Keith looked up at her, a slight frown on his face. "If you really feel you have to go, I won't stop you."

Pidge opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly she wasn't so sure what she wanted to say anymore. Her desire to find her dad and Matt hadn't changed in the least, but Keith was right- in order to find one part of her family, she'd been leaving another part of it was behind. It was bad enough that they had left behind her mom on Earth, but to leave behind Keith too?

She wasn't sure she could do that.

Swallowing, she opened her mouth, ready to say something- before the words were ripped from her, a powerful explosion rocking the entire ship.

* * *

Seeing Sendak up close was nothing like seeing him on a screen.

Even from a distance, she'd been able to tell just how _huge _he was. He _loomed _over Shiro, a solid wall of muscle, his monstrosity of a mechanical arm just adding to his menace. He couldn't possibly be any more different from Keith if he tried- aside from the eyes and the fact that they were both purple, they had almost nothing in common. Even Sendak's claws and fangs made Keith's look more like little baby nubs.

Suddenly, she understood a little better just where the _human _part of Keith's appearance came in.

Compared to Sendak, Haxus was a lot less intimidating. Which wasn't to say he _wasn't_\- he was- but while tall, he wasn't the solid, hulking mass of muscle that Sendak was. He actually looked even less like Keith than Sendak did- almost reptilian in nature. She couldn't help but recall her dad's theory that the Galra were adaptable, their environment as they grew and developed determining their physical traits almost as much as their genetics did. And while three was a pretty small sample size, she was starting to think he was on to something there.

Haxus might have been the less intimidating between the two of them, but that didn't make fighting him any easier. If Rover hadn't been there, she probably would have been captured- or killed.

In the end, Rover had sacrificed itself to save her.

But they'd won. They'd fought back against Sendak, and took back the Castle, preventing him from delivering Voltron to Zarkon. Hunk and Coran pulled through too, returning to the Castle just in time with the crystal they needed to reboot the ship. Thanks to that, they were able to put Lance in a pod. From the sound of it, he would be just fine after a day or so in there. Coran had checked the rest of them over, but had determined that none of them required a pod themselves. Shiro was pretty beaten up, but all he really needed was some salve and a few bandages- not to mention rest. She was pretty sore from being thrown around so much, but other than a few bruises from where Sendak had used his mechanical arm to clamp down on her, she'd be fine too.

And in the end... it had brought some clarity to her own internal conflict. Her desire to find her family hadn't lessened, but she'd come to realize that her best chance of actually finding them was to stay right here. They'd overcome a dangerous crisis- and they'd done it together. If even one of them had been missing, things could have turned out a lot worse.

When she'd told Keith that, he'd just smiled at her. Told her that he was glad she was sticking around, and that they would find their families together.

Their families. Plural.

_"By now, your traitorous mother is probably already dead."_

Sendak had said a lot of awful things to Keith, but that was the line that stood out the most to her. Once things had calmed down a bit to allow room for them to actually breathe, she found that she couldn't _stop _thinking about it. For his part, Keith had tried to act like it didn't bother him, but there was no way it _hadn't_. She knew that one of his goals now that he was out here was to find his mother and reunite with her, just like she hoped to reunite with her dad and Matt. The only real difference between their two goals was the fact that his mother wasn't a prisoner, but a rebel agent who had infiltrated the Galra Empire.

She thought that meant she was safe- but maybe she'd been wrong.

Eventually, when it got to be too much, she pried herself away from her laptop to search for Keith. She thought she'd find him in the med bay, where Shiro was resting, but he wasn't there.

"Shiro? Have you seen Keith?"

Looking up at her with a tired expression, Shiro sighed. "He left with Allura."

Pidge frowned. The princess had left to check on the Arusians, and to offer a helping hand in rebuilding their village after it had been damaged by the fire Sendak had set. In the end, it had just been a diversion to draw their attention away from the Castle, but that didn't change the fact that the damage done to the village was very real. While they wouldn't be on Arus for much longer, she still wanted to offer what help she could to them before they had to leave. They might not be able to rebuild the whole village, but at the very least, they could help clear the rubble.

She knew that. She just hadn't known Keith had gone with her.

It wasn't that she was worried about them being alone together- he and Allura seemed to be on the road to working out their issues. Well, mostly _Allura's_ issues, but still. She didn't think the princess would hurt him.

It was just... she was surprised he wasn't here, with Shiro. He'd nearly lost him again, Sendak nearly-

...oh.

"Is he still hung up about Sendak?" Pidge asked.

"He won't admit to it." Shiro told her. "But probably. I'd go after him myself, but-"

"Coran meant it when he said you needed to rest?" Pidge finished. "I can always talk to him."

"Are you sure?" Shiro frowned, already starting to stand up. "Because I could-"

"No." Pidge stopped him. "Keith's my best friend. I think I can handle this."

Shiro managed a faint smile, sitting back down. "In that case, I won't try to stop you. But only if you're feeling up to it. Sendak tossed you around pretty badly."

"Gee, thanks for making it sound like I'm some kind of ragdoll." Pidge joked.

"Pidge-"

"I'm fine, Shiro." Pidge assured him. "You heard Coran. Just a few scrapes and bruises."

Shiro exhaled. "I know. But I still can't help but worry. It's supposed to be my job to keep the four of you safe, and so far I haven't done a great job of it."

"You can't hold yourself responsible for everything, Shiro." Pidge told him. "This was all Sendak's fault. You did everything you could to keep Lance and the Castle safe."

Shiro gave her a weak smile, one that failed to reach his eyes. "Thanks."

Pidge frowned, shifting on her feet. Part of her wanted to stay until she managed to get it through Shiro's thick skull that he hadn't failed anyone, but if she did that, she'd probably just be here all day. With a curt nod of her head, and a quick glance in the direction of Lance's healing pod, she opted to make a hasty exit.

Coran was somewhere around here anyways, she knew. Maybe adult issues were something better left to adults.

* * *

"Pidge?"

Keith looked up at her in surprise, pausing to wipe sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. When she found him, he'd been working to clear away some of the rubble blocking the main path into the village, moving huge chunks of rock like it was nothing. His jacket was tied around his waist, dried sweat clinging to his lavender skin. With all the dust and ash being blown around by the breeze, Keith's third eyelid was firmly in place, reminding her that she actually hadn't seen him without pupils since they'd left Earth.

For a split second, her breath hitched in her throat, flashing back to Sendak's blazing eyes- before the moment passed, and she exhaled. Keith wasn't Sendak. That much was obvious. She wasn't about to be afraid of him, not after all this time.

"Hey." Pidge gave him a weak smile. "Shiro told me I'd find you here."

Keith's eyes narrowed in understanding. "He told you to come talk to me, didn't he?"

"Pretty much." Pidge shrugged. "So... do you want to talk about it?"

Keith turned away from her, purposefully picking up another cracked rock. "I'm busy."

"Actually," Allura began, popping out from seemingly nowhere and startling her half to death, "-I think you've earned yourself something of a break."

Keith's eyes narrowed further. "I can keep going."

"Nonsense." Allura said firmly. "You've been working nonstop since we got here. Go, take a break. Bonding with your fellow paladins is important."

Keith's frown deepened, muttering something underneath his breath that she couldn't quite make out. Setting down the rock on a handcart, he heaved a long sigh.

"Fine." Keith said. "Let's talk."

Pidge couldn't help but beam in triumph as Keith lead her away from the village. The Arusians watched them pass, though not with any wariness, she noticed. They'd never actually _seen _a Galra before- just their sentries, so it didn't seem as if they'd made any connections between Keith and the people who had destroyed their village.

That was probably for the best. Keith had enough on his plate as it was already.

When they got far away enough to be sure no one would overhear them, Keith turned back towards her. Leaning back against a tree, he crossed his arms almost defensively in front of him. "So? What did you want to talk about?"

Pidge's smile instantly faded, wondering where to even start. So many things had happened in such a short period of time, that it was hard to just pick one.

She guessed it might as well be what had drawn her all the way out here in the first place.

"About what Sendak said about your mother-"

"She's fine." Keith cut her off. "I know she is."

Pidge's brows knit together at the surety in his voice. "Far be it from me to decry hope, but how can you be so sure?"

Keith blinked, before unfolding his arms, reaching for his knife. He held it out so that she could see the emblem emblazoned on its hilt, glowing just as steadily as it had the first time she'd seen it with Matt, all those years ago. "Dad told me once that as long as this emblem is still glowing, it means she's still alive. Sendak was just bluffing."

"Oh." Pidge said, honestly feeling relieved. "But still, how did he even know about your mother?"

"It's not hard." Keith snorted, sheathing his knife. "We look a lot alike."

Pidge frowned. She'd never actually _seen _any pictures of Keith's mother before. She wasn't even sure any existed. She knew he got his black hair from his dad, but in light of the two Galra she'd seen, it made her wonder just Keith's mother looked like. If Sendak had been able to deduce her identity just from looking at him, then they had to look _a lot_ alike.

"Look," Keith began, snapping her attention back to him, "-I appreciate that both you and Shiro are worried about me, Pidge, but I just don't think I'm ready to talk about Sendak yet. He's basically the first Galra I've ever had to deal with, and I just... I need some time to think first."

Oh. Somehow in the middle of all this chaos, she'd managed to forget that Keith had never dealt with another Galra before either. He'd never even left _Earth _before this. Now here he was, thousands of lightyears from it. Just leaving his tiny desert shack had been a big deal for him, but their solar system? Their _galaxy_? He was just as out of his element as everyone else was. _Of course_ he would need some time to process everything.

"So... does that mean you'll talk to us about it when you're ready?" Pidge asked.

"When I'm ready, sure." Keith told her. "You two will be the first people I talk to about it."

Pidge cracked a smile at that. "Is that a promise?"

Keith arched a brow, sticking out a clawed hand. "You want to make it a pinky promise?"

She stared at his hand a few seconds, before she grinned, linking her pinky with his. "You know what? Maybe I do."

Keith's smile was a welcome sight, fangs and all.


End file.
